Manage materials

Cura comes preloaded with Ultimaker materials, to make it easy for you to start printing. When printing with different materials, it is made possible to add these materials to Cura. This way the material settings are conveniently stored, so you can print with your favorite materials every time. To go to the material settings go to File > Preferences.

Click the materials tab (1) to open the material management window.

To use the selected material, click activate (2).

To create an unprotected material from the current settings, click duplicate (3).

To remove a custom material, select it and click remove (4).

Import (5) custom materials from others.

Export (6) your custom material to share.

The information tab (7) shows generic material information. This information is not accessible in this case since the profile is protected.

The Print settings tab (8 ) contains material settings that will be used during printing.

Add a custom material

To add a custom material, duplicate a material which physical properties come closest to the new material. This way the printer knows at which temperatures to do filament changes and printer calibrations.

The material settings you have to provide is often easily accessible from the packaging of the filament or the website of the manufacturer.

Choose a fancy display name (1) to easily recognize the material.

Enter the brand name (2) here. This also categorizes all filaments from the same brand in the list on the left.

Specify the material type (3) here.

Choose a color (4) by clicking on the color box. A color picker pops up to choose a color, which will be represented on the build plate.

Enter all the material properties (5). This is important for the weight and price estimate provided by Cura.